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Art Journaling in the AlpsTue, 09 Aug 2016 16:08:11 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.5Hut-n-trekhttps://feedburner.google.comWachau 2017http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/3fb7T5IoO0Q/
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 16:07:53 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=830We are going to the Wachau! In September 2017, within the framework of a course in art journaling, we’ll explore one of the most beautiful regions in Lower Austria, the Wachau. The Wachau is a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landscape. On top of that, we believe it’s one of the places where you can experience […]

In September 2017, within the framework of a course in art journaling, we’ll explore one of the most beautiful regions in Lower Austria, the Wachau. The Wachau is a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landscape. On top of that, we believe it’s one of the places where you can experience the best Austria has to offer and chronicle your experiences in an Art Journal for a life time of memories. We’ll show you how.

We’ll take you on a traveling art journaling course in one of the most beautiful landscapes on the Danube.

We’ll spend a week exploring a Danube river landscape full of vineyards, quaint medieval towns, ancient castles, and venerable monasteries.

We’ll hike to several castle ruins, explore towns reminiscent of the middle ages, and visit Melk Abbey. To complete your experience of this cultural landscape, we’ll ride a river boat from one end of the Wachau to the other – and back, and we’ll go on a hike between Dürnstein and Weissenkirchen for unequaled views of the Danube valley.

Between excursions, we’ll learn how to give expression to our individual experiences with art journaling sessions.

And all along – we’ll sample wines, food and other drinks from the Region.

We invite you to come with us.

More About the Wachau

The Wachau is one of the most scenic river valleys of the Danube in Lower Austria. Between the ancient towns of Melk and Krems, the Danube flows through a landscape of terraced vineyards and orchards, where small towns from the middle ages front the river, and where castles, ruins and abbeys overlook the country.

The landscape has been shaped, in part, by centuries old traditions and agricultural practices. For that reason, UNESCO designated the Wachau as a World Heritage Cultural Landscape. But the Wachau is not just a living museum. It’s vibrant and flourishing and a feast for the senses.

Our Week in the Wachau

During the course of a week (6 nights) we’ll explore towns from the Middle Ages, hike to castle ruins shrouded in legend, and visit Melk Abbey with its treasures.

We’ll also wander through vineyards and forests high above the Danube on a section of a long distance trail, the Wachau World Heritage Trail. And for a different point of view, we’ll ride a river boat on the Danube from one end of the Wachau to the other, and back.

We’ll also stop off for a short visit to view the Venus of Willendorf , one of the oldest statues of a woman dating to about 25000 BC. As the name suggests, this stone age carving was found near the small town of Willendorf, on the left bank of the Danube in the middle of the Wachau. (Actually, we’ll see a replica – the real one is on display in a museum in Vienna).

No visit to the Wachau would be complete without a “Heuriger”, a name literally meaning “this year’s wine”. Throughout the year, one or the other wine estate opens its doors and offers their new wine – the Heurigen – to the delight of locals and tourists. We’ll visit several of these establishments. Participation is voluntary, of course. However, in our view a visit to the Wachau without an evening over a “Heurigen” is an opportunity wasted. If you are a tee-totaler, remember: it’s not just the wine, it’s the atmosphere that’s special.

All of that is accompanied by daily art journaling sessions to make sure the rich impressions we gather get permanently recorded in a way that’s as unique as our experience

We are working out a detailed itinerary for 2016, but everything we described above is the minimum you can expect when you join us for our Trek through the Wachau. Our greatest challenge right now is figuring out how much we can fit into the span of a week. We are considering adding a few days for those who want to stay longer.

Contact us if you are interested in coming with us on this adventure in exploring the world through art journaling.

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/wachau-2017/Traveling in the Wachauhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/VpEh7uKVRik/
Fri, 05 Dec 2014 16:44:55 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=603After two hut-to-hut treks (Along the Gosaukamm and the Karwendel Transverse) we decided to try something more comforting to our aging bones. We had hiked over difficult terrain, slept in dormitory style bunks, and enjoyed cold water on frigid mornings. Now, we thought, we had earned a few days of easy wandering through landscapes at least as […]

]]>After two hut-to-hut treks (Along the Gosaukamm and the Karwendel Transverse) we decided to try something more comforting to our aging bones. We had hiked over difficult terrain, slept in dormitory style bunks, and enjoyed cold water on frigid mornings. Now, we thought, we had earned a few days of easy wandering through landscapes at least as stimulating as the Alps, but not as rustic. Hot baths or showers at the end of the day, for instance, would be just fine, and I in particular, was starving for a greater variety of vegetarian food.

The Wachau – a World Heritage Region on the Danube in Lower Austria – promised all of that and more. The Wachau is a region of sublime beauty and old cultures. One of the oldest statuettes ever found in Europe, the Venus of Willendorf, was found in the Wachau just outside the town of Willendorf.

View of a Wachau landscape from the Castle Ruins of Aggstein. Small towns, woodlands and terraced vineyards border the Danube

Between the ancient towns of Melk on the south end and Krems on the north, castles, ruins, abbeys, and medieval towns dot a landscape as rolling as the river that gives it life – the Blue Danube, the second longest river of the European continent.

Also, the Wachau has produced excellent wines since the Romans established their frontier at the Danube. Scores of vintners grow select varietals of grape like Green Veltliner and Zweigelt. Some people claim the Riesling was born here in the hills around Spitz, a town in the heart of the Wachau. And best of all, as far as wine goes, throughout the year one or the other estate opens its doors and offers their new wine – the Heurigen – to the delight of locals and tourists alike.

We set up base camp in a delightful Pension in Emmersdorf, at the southern end of the Wachau and just across the river from Melk. From there we took day trips to many different places on both sides of the Danube. We saw abbeys

Melk Abbey above the Town of Melk. Melk was founded before 831 CE; the abbey is a little younger.

and toured small towns right out of the middle ages.

We hiked up to ancient castle ruins overlooking the Danube. The castles already stood proud above the river when King Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned in Dürnstein Castle on his return trip from the Crusades, and Schreck vom Wald (a real knight) terrorized the countryside.

Dürnstein Castle Ruins – Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned here on his return from the Crusades

We wandered to small villages. Once we took a wrong turn on a hiking trip and ended up in Aggsbach Dorf with an old fortified monastery (the Wachau also has a number of churches which were fortified against Turkish invasions).

Gates to a fortified monastery with Trip-Hammer-Smithy

Along the way we sampled local vintage and Sturm – a refreshing, but intoxicating, drink of grape cider on its way to becoming wine.

Sturm – good to the last drop

We also took a cruise on a river boat from one end of the Region to the other – and back.

The MS Austria plies the waters of the Danube with tourists on board

We came back convinced that a travelling art journaling course to the Wachau would not only be possible, but highly delightful.

A typical breakfast spread

Accommodations are relatively inexpensive – you can get a room with 2 beds, including breakfast, for about the same price as a room for two in an alpine hut. In contrast to hiking in the Alps, however, even the most basic accommodations come with a shower and hot and cold running water. Also, the variety of available food and drink is far greater than anything you can find in mountain huts.

So why shouldn’t we attempt to put together a travelling art journaling course to the Wachau? This is too good a place not to share with like-minded people, and it should inspire just about any person who has a rudiment of imagination.

In fact, we are now working on the elements of a point-to-point trek in the Wachau. Technically, it won’t be a hut to hut trek. It may not even be entirely inn-to-inn. At the moment we believe it’s probably best to stay in one place , an inn for example, and from there go on day trips with a minimum of gear. The Wachau has an excellent transportation system which makes all of it easily accessible from just about anywhere. Nearly every inn also has a large sitting room we can use for our daily art journaling sessions.

Stay tuned for more on the Wachau. We are working out details and possible itineraries. The largest problem confronting us is what to include and what to leave out – there is an abundance of interesting places, sights and hiking trails. We also need to build in enough time for art, joy and leisure. Anything more hectic just wouldn’t fit the mood of the Region.

If you are interested in coming to the Wachau with us, subscribe to this site to find out about the trips and workshops we are offering as soon as they become available. You can also contact us with questions.

We treat your email in confidence, we surely won’t sell it or give it away. And while we want to keep you informed, we won’t bother you with any unwelcome marketing material.

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/traveling-wachau/The Karwendel Transverse: Hut-to-Hut Trekking in the Alps at its Besthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/vXswN9OdseI/
http://www.hut-n-trek.com/karwendel-hut-to-hut/#commentsTue, 18 Nov 2014 14:38:35 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=362The next hut-to-hut trek we wanted to explore was the Karwendel Transverse in Tirol, Austria. The weather held, and so a few days after we got back from our hut to hut trek along the Gosaukamm, we decided to set out on our next hiking adventure. Karwendel – I have loved that name from the time […]

]]>The next hut-to-hut trek we wanted to explore was the Karwendel Transverse in Tirol, Austria. The weather held, and so a few days after we got back from our hut to hut trek along the Gosaukamm, we decided to set out on our next hiking adventure.

Karwendel – I have loved that name from the time I was a child. Although it’s named after some forgotten hero named Gerwentil, it has always invoked images of mysterious mountains, dragons and gemstones. The reality of actually hiking through the Karwendel Mountain Range didn’t disappoint.

We had heard for some time the Karwendel Range were extraordinarily beautiful. Friends had told us of ancient maple groves in its long and deep valleys, and climbers had described its cliff faces as some of the tallest in all of the Alps. We wanted to see for ourselves. Most of all we wanted to find out if we can combine a hut-to-hut trek in those mountains with one of our Art Journaling workshops.

I’ll treat the entire Karwendel Trail and our experiences on it in separate posts, with enough detail to attempt it on your own, but here it is in a nutshell: it’s one of the most beautiful treks we have ever been on, and we are planning to adapt it to a traveling course in art journaling.

Almost all of the Karwendel Range lie in a Nature Park. What’s more,we had learned of an easy, several days long hut-to-hut trek, the Karwendel Transverse, which leads from one end of the range to the other.

The Transverse simply leads from valley to valley over easy mountain passes. It starts in Scharnitz, a small ski resort north of Innsbruck, and ends in Pertisau, a small town on a lake about 30 miles east of Scharnitz. Along the way are three mountain huts that offer food and shelter, the Karwendelhaus, the Falkenhütte and the Lamsenjochhütte. They are spaced at about three to four hours apart if you are hiking at a leisurely pace. The hike to the first hut, however, takes at least 5 hours, and it’s a long slog from the last hut to Pertisau. Looking at the map led us to believe there was little opportunity to cut the trek short, that once we got as far as the Karwendelhaus we were committed to the entire distance, but we found that wasn’t so.

On a crisp and clear fall morning we started our hike in Scharnitz and soon found ourselves on a well maintained gravel road that also serves as a mountain bike trail. Numerous bicyclers passed as we made our way through the long, but beautiful, valley called, by sheer coincidence, the Karwendel Valley.

On the trail in the Karwendel Valley between Scharnitz and the Karwendelhaus

We took our time admiring the creek at the valley floor, waterfalls dropping over sheer cliffs and enjoying the scenery.

Rushing Waters Next to the Trail in the Karwendel Valley

Leisurely Rest on a Bench across the Trail from a Maple

When we reached the Karwendelhaus some 7 hours after we had started that morning, we were tired from a long hike. The last four miles were the steepest of all. But when we got there the view was worth it. The Karwendelhaus sits at the head of the valley, and looking back we saw a few miles of it laid out below us.

The stately Karwendelhaus, built into a cliff. A wonderful terrace behind the hut overlooks the valley below.

A view from the terrace of the Karwendelhaus shows a few miles of the trail from Scharnitz.

We liked the second segment of the trek, from the Karwendelhaus to the Falkenhütte, even better. A mountain bike trail also connects these two huts, but a hiking trail cuts through several of its loops. Its shorter and not at all difficult. Either trail takes you down to the Small Maple Grove, where we took our time absorbing the scenery before we started up another mountain to the next hut, the Falkenhütte.

The Small Maple Grove with a backdrop of some of the peaks in the Karwendel Range

Falke is German for Falcon, and like a falcon’s nest, the Falkenhütte perches at the base of cliffs, called the Ladiderer Wand, that rise some 2500 feet vertically into the sky.

Falkenhütte. The Laliderer Wand in the background rises some 2500′ straight into the sky.

We stayed there one night, but two nights might have been better. The hosts, a family who’s run the hut since 1946, are friendly and hospitable, the scenery just outside the window is stunning, literally, and there’s lots to explore all around. One day is not enough to soak it all up. Nearby we saw chamois and best of all, a herd of stags (a little smaller than our elk but similar) grazing on the slopes below. It was mating season, and we could hear the bulls bugling from miles away.

Our last leg of the hike, from the Falkenhütte to the valley below, was a regular foot path, not easily passable on a mountain bike.

On a crisp morning we made our way down from the Falkenhütte

We took to the trail after it had rained all night. Apparently, rain had turned to snow just a little higher on the mountain than the hut. The peaks and cliffs around us were powdered with snow, and the morning air was crisp. Although it was slow going on the trail because we had to watch our step over wet segments, a reasonably surefooted hiker can easily manage it, especially with the aid of one or more hiking sticks.

We skipped the hike up to the next hut, the Lamsenjochhütte, and ended our trek in the valley below, the Eng Valley. The hike to the next hut, nearly 2100′ above us on another mountain, daunted us, and we vowed to save it for another day. Then, too, we thought we found a way to cut the trek short by way of the Eng Valley and we needed to explore it. By the time we reached the valley we had decided that if we came here with a group, we should go no farther than the Eng Alm.

The Engalm lies at the head of the Eng Valley and is a popular tourist destination.

The Eng Valley is also famous for its large stand of ancient maples, the Great Maple Grove. Some of them are over 4oo years old and host a species of fungus found only in two completely disjunct places in the world: in that valley and somewhere in China (an unsolved mystery).

At its head also lies a kind of Show Alm – a commercialized Alm open to the public. Tourists arrive there by the bus load, walk over groomed trails, view cow milking and cheese making demonstrations and ride around in horse drawn carriages. They looked at us a little sideways as we strode along the groomed walkways to the bus. We had been hiking for several days and looked somewhat trail worn. Also, we carried backpacks and well used hiking sticks, and we obviously came from the mountains high above us, a place they wouldn’t reach that day or perhaps ever again. But most of all, we walked with a gait acquired from walking long distances over uneven terrain, and that alone set us apart from just about anyone strolling the foot paths.

We skipped the various spectacles of the Eng Alm, they were a little too much for us after experiencing mountain solitude, and we took a bus back to civilization.

All in all, this is a hut-to-hut trek we recommend. You can easily do it on your own, if you want. You can even stretch it out with extra stays at one of the huts, or with additional days on either end of the trek. You might even hike the whole distance from Scharnitz on one end and Pertisau on the other, as many people do, with no regrets whatsoever. You’ll find a complete set of instructions on this site in the next few months.

The Karwendel Transverse is also a hut-to-hut trek we will offer in combination with a traveling art journaling workshop in 2015, with some modifications. We will shorten the first leg of the trek, from Scharnitz to the Karwendelhaus, by several hours. At the same time, we will preserve a few hours of an easy and memorable hike through one of the most beautiful valleys imaginable. We may also add another day at the Falkenhütte.

If you want to join us on one of our hut-n-trek adventures to the Karwendels, look for more detailed trek descriptions, itineraries, and on ways you can join us in future posts. The easiest way to learn of upcoming hut-to-hut treks is to subscribe to this site by email.

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/karwendel-hut-to-hut/feed/2http://www.hut-n-trek.com/karwendel-hut-to-hut/We’re Back: A Round Up of our 2014 Hut-to-Hut Trekshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/P5IA1VtPTPw/
http://www.hut-n-trek.com/back-2014-treks/#commentsFri, 07 Nov 2014 17:00:51 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=358We are back. After 6 weeks of traveling in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, we are back in the US full of new ideas and impressions. We covered a lot of ground in September and October. We went on two hut-to-hut treks in the Alps, spent a week in the wine country of Lower Austria, […]

After 6 weeks of traveling in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, we are back in the US full of new ideas and impressions.

We covered a lot of ground in September and October. We went on two hut-to-hut treks in the Alps, spent a week in the wine country of Lower Austria, and topped it off with four days in the Netherlands.

Last Days in Amsterdam

In between treks and tours we went on day hikes and walked through miles of city streets, ancient and new. We rode on cruise ships, boats, and cable ferries, and we traveled on buses, cable cars, and high speed trains. We visited abbeys, graveyards and castle ruins, and when no one was listening we sang harmony in churches for the joy of fine acoustics.

The Danube flowing past Melk Abbey

Along the way we quaffed beer from 1/2 liter mugs, drank flagons of wine before it was bottled, and downed draughts of Sturm (fermenting grape cider on its way to being wine). We also sampled our share of chocolate.

All of that was driven by a simple purpose – to create point-to-point treks for a traveling art journaling course. No one ever said you can’t enjoy a business trip.

We learned a lot in those weeks. We tested the Gosaukamm Trek and found we need to revise the route. We scouted another hut-to-hut trek through the Karwendel Range in Tirol and we were surprised by its beauty and accessibility. This is a trek we will repeat.

Then we put together the elements of a traveling art journaling course in the Wachau, a World Heritage Region in Lower Austria. Where the mountains are rugged and encourage conquest, the Wachau is gently curved and inviting like a woman who opens her arms to comfort. Both landscapes ask to be explored, but in different ways.

Each of these adventures will get a detailed treatment in future posts. For now, we’re preparing overviews of each one, complete with our take home lessons.

We’ll have considerably more to say about each of these treks in future posts and pages. In the long run we’ll post sufficient information to do each trek or tour on your own. If they still look too intimidating to attempt by yourself – strange language, travel modes, customs, regions, etc. – we’ll invite you to come along on one of our excursions. We’re putting those together, too.

In the short run, though, we’ll write and post short descriptions of each of our adventures.

The links for each one are below. They’ll go live as we complete them. Please click on them to read more.

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/back-2014-treks/feed/1http://www.hut-n-trek.com/back-2014-treks/Along the Gosaukamm – An Overview of the 2014 Hut-to-Hut Trekhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/ALbSqxWc5Tg/
http://www.hut-n-trek.com/gosaukamm/#commentsFri, 07 Nov 2014 16:55:21 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=367The Gosaukamm Hut-to-Hut Trek of 2014 We are putting this trek on a shelf . Some of its segments can be treacherous when wet. It’s a wonderful trek, as I previously described, and it’s well worth doing. But for this trek to be safe and enjoyable for the perhaps not so experienced hiker, we need […]

We are putting this trek on a shelf . Some of its segments can be treacherous when wet. It’s a wonderful trek, as I previously described, and it’s well worth doing.

The Gosaukamm

But for this trek to be safe and enjoyable for the perhaps not so experienced hiker, we need to have dry trail conditions, on one segment in particular. We can’t predict several months in advance, when we need to make all necessary arrangements from the comfort of our office, if its going to be raining when we hike. So we are exploring other ways to put this trek together, and we will test them next year.

I’ll describe the details of this hut-to-hut trek in a future post so you’ll have all the information you need if you want to do it on your own. It has one of the best combination of scenery, Alms and hospitable mountain huts we know. For now, though, we are rethinking this particular hut-to-hut trek, especially its suitability as an art journaling course.

Here is why.

In 2014 Austria had perhaps the worst summer (read rainy) in a long time. As soon as we arrived people were telling us about the summer that never was (following a winter that never was).

When we arrived in Austria, our prospects for finding 3-4 days in a row without rain seemed dim. But we had some time on our hands. We used it for scouting accommodations, filling in gaps in some of our other projects, and visiting relatives. Then, too, September is typically one of the dryer months in the Alps, so we bided our time and waited for rain to stop.

Finally, the weather man predicted mostly clear weather for several days ahead, with only a sprinkle here and there, so we set out. We took the cable car up the mountain

to the Gablonzer Hut and spent the first night in comfortable lodgings. Outside, the rain kept on coming down with no sign of letting up. The hut was nearly empty. Only a few other guests, who had also come up by cable car, shared the large sitting room. Together we enjoyed the rain and the mist, the peace and quiet of the hut, and the warmth of the tiled stove.

The next day was sunny and clear. The peaks of the Dachstein across the valley had gotten their first snow of the year, but the weather was ideal for hiking. We started our hike.

The weather held, more or less, for the next few days, but in retrospect, we would not lead a group of people over the route we took.

The first segment of the trek, in particular, was wet and slippery. It was strenuous, difficult and slow going. The ground had been thoroughly soaked for weeks on end. You had to watch your footing on every step. There was little chance of tumbling over a cliff, should you slip and fall, but there was a great likelihood of falling on your ass and breaking your tailbone if you were not super careful. It happened to an experienced hiker who cracked his knee on the same day. A quick, unguarded turn to look back on the trail and down he went. Even if you got back up without injury, you’d be covered in mud. This is not a great way to arrive at the next hut where opportunities to clean up and dry out are severely limited.

The next few segments of the trek were all right for hiking. Except for short sections, from the Theodor-Koerner Hut onward the trail leads over mostly stable ground, even when its wet, and it is totally enjoyable. The views all along are breath taking.

The Durchgang – a steep passage that leads through a gap in a ridge – was no more difficult than I previously described.

The Durchgang or Passage

In the Photo above you’ll see the numerous switch-backs up to the gap. The upper section in particular will scare you if you have vertigo, but the steepest parts are secured with cables anchored to the rock. Wooden treads, also anchored to the ground. prevent slipping. A reasonably fit person can negotiate this and the next portions of the trail without serious problems.

But for now we are putting this particular hut-to-hut trek on hold. As it is, this is not a trek we want to do with course participants when it rains – or following weeks of rain. We are evaluating alternative combinations of routes and segments to come and we’re hoping to come up with a different alpine hiking and art journaling experience.

For example, we may use the Gablonzer Hut as a permanent base camp. It’s easy to get to, it has excellent facilities, and it has the best kitchen of all of the huts we visited. From there we can take a variety of day hikes, including hikes around the lakes in the valley below (we’d take the cable car up and down). Also, there is plenty of room to gather around tables for art journaling sessions and the staff is friendly.

We’ll keep you posted. Look for an updated trail description of the Gosaukamm hut-to-hut trek. There we’ll detail our experiences and give you pointers for going on your own outstanding alpine hiking experience. .

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/gosaukamm/feed/6http://www.hut-n-trek.com/gosaukamm/Hut-to-Hut Trekking in the Alps along the Gosaukamm over at Art Camp for Womenhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/wD2aiqS5y-s/
http://www.hut-n-trek.com/gosaukamm-trek-post-art-camp-women/#commentsSat, 20 Sep 2014 17:34:43 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=351As you may know, we are trekking from hut to hut in the Alps. Lori posted a quick note about our first trek along the Gosaukamm so far. Go check it out at Art Camp for Women or on the Art Camp Facebook Page.

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/gosaukamm-trek-post-art-camp-women/feed/1http://www.hut-n-trek.com/gosaukamm-trek-post-art-camp-women/Frequently Asked Questionshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/3ni871usj-s/
Wed, 23 Jul 2014 22:46:52 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=327This is the start of a list of FAQs, or Things you might like to know and Questions we believe you should ask. We’ll expand it in the course of time. How is the Food? We’ll eat almost all of our food at restaurants and alpine huts. We’re never more than a couple of hours […]

]]>This is the start of a list of FAQs, or Things you might like to know and Questions we believe you should ask. We’ll expand it in the course of time.

How is the Food?

We’ll eat almost all of our food at restaurants and alpine huts. We’re never more than a couple of hours away from the nearest meal or beverage.

Food in restaurants and is traditional Austrian meat-based fare with regional and local specialties thrown in.

Salzburg’s special dish is called Salzburger Nockerl, a delicious egg-white soufflé you have to try at least once.

A regional dish in Hallstatt is a local variety of Arctic Char, caught in the lake only a few hours before it’s served. It’s delicious.

At its most basic level, Austria offers a large assortment of sausages and cold cuts. And if you ever find better bread, anywhere, I’d like to know.

To my knowledge, Austria has more kinds of dumplings than any other country in Europe. They come in many different shapes, doughs and sizes, and they appear in all sorts of dishes, from soups to deserts.

Food at the huts is of the more basic basic variety. It’s geared towards providing you with calories and energy for hiking and climbing. In addition to a variety of sausages or dumplings, some of the common offerings are: Wiener Schnitzel with Potatoes and Salad, Lumberjack Steak with Potatoes and Cabbage salad, Cheese Dumplings and Salad, Kaiserschmarren (scrambled pancakes – a fluffy and rich desert dish that can be enjoyed as a main meal) with Compote.

Vegetarians, like Roland, have it a harder, especially in small rural communities. Most restaurants, even huts, offer vegetarian dishes, but it’s not clear what exactly that means. Many consider cheese, butter and milk vegetarian foods, and there is plenty of that to go around. But if you are avoiding animal fats, then you may join Roland in eating very simple food with lots of bread. He also plans to make special requests from chefs. We’ll see how that goes.

Drinking Water

Water is safe to drink everywhere in Austria, whether from the tap or a public fountain. Even springs bubbling from the mountain side are generally safe. On the Gosaukamm trek, however, we need to carry enough drinking water to get us to the next hut. We are hiking over porous limestone where water seeps through the rock. There are few springs.

When you order “water” in restaurants, the server will bring you a bottle of mineral water. If you simply want to drink tap water you need to specify “Leitungswasser”.

Weather

We selected September because it is one of the drier months in Austria. Days can be crisp and clear in the mountains and perfect for hiking.

However, there is no getting around it: it rains a lot in Austria. We would be lucky indeed if we could spend a week in the Alps near tree line without rain. Weather in the Alps, as in all mountains, can be unpredictable. Although it’s not likely, we could see snow in the middle of September. But if it does snow, it won’t stick around for long. At any rate, we are never far from shelter and never in treacherous terrain. Also if the weather looks too bad for hiking in the morning, especially if there is a possibility of snow, we’ll stay in the hut and wait until it’s safe to continue.

Note: Bring 3-layer clothing and good rain gear. Lori and I once hiked in the Alps a whole day in the rain with nothing more than an umbrella and warm clothing. It was memorable.

Do I Need to Exchange Money?

We don’t find it necessary to exchange money in advance anymore. We use ATMs when we need cash, and we use Credit Cards when necessary. You should carry some cash with you to cover expenses.

Do I need a Passport or Visa to Enter Austria?

Entering Austria requires only a valid passport. You don’t need a Visa to enter an European Union Country like Austria from the US. Entry from other European Union Countries is similar to traveling from one State in the US to another.

If you fly into Germany, for instance, you will go through immigration before you leave the airport. From there you are free to travel to Austria (or Italy, or Switzerland, etc.) without having to go through customs at a border.

What is the National Language?

The language of Austria is German. What you’re likely to hear, though, are various forms of a Bavarian dialect and not the High German spoken in only a small region of Germany. Mountain dialects can be incomprehensible to German, unless they are from neighboring Bavaria. Even then it can be hard to understand a local dialect used in a neighboring valley, let alone in a different part of the Alps.

Fortunately, Roland was born in Salzburg and speaks a common dialect, so language won’t be a barrier. He can translate for you in case you really need to get a point across. He has experience with that.

Also, English is a compulsory subject, now, and most younger Austrians speak English well enough to communicate basics. Even so, if you’ve ever studied another language in school and you’ve not used it in practice, you know that complex ideas are sometimes lost in translation.

Travel Tip

Buy a travel guide to Europe with a section on Austria. The Rough Guide to Austria has a lot of detailed information on basic travel information and places. Lonely Planet Guides are also good. Personally, I’m a Rick Steves fan. He is the master of travelling light, and his guides are highly practical. You can also find a lot of useful information on tavelling in Austria, or for that matter anywhere in Europe, on his website: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/

http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/ Check there first.

What About Tipping?

During the trek, we tip as appropriate (tipping for meals, drinks and services in Austria is not the same as in the US (service personnel are paid living wages), so leave it to us. Just in case you believe someone deserves an additional gratuity, you will need to treat that as a personal expense, but ask us first for guidance.

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/faqs/Alpine Huts and Cottageshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/goUSHLmxmrk/
http://www.hut-n-trek.com/alpine-huts-cottages/#commentsSun, 25 May 2014 01:44:43 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=146What’s a hut, anyhow? Or more to the point, what’s an alpine hut? In German, the word “Hütte” (hut) is a general term for just about any building you might encounter in the Alps, from a simple hay shed to an alpine lodge with more than 100 bed spaces. The alps are populated with huts; in […]

]]>What’s a hut, anyhow? Or more to the point, what’s an alpine hut? In German, the word “Hütte” (hut) is a general term for just about any building you might encounter in the Alps, from a simple hay shed

The alps are populated with huts; in fact it’s difficult to hike very far without coming across one type or another. All of them are connected by a network of trails that have been in use for centuries, in some cases since the time of Ötzi the Iceman. Huts fall into two general categories.

Alpine Association Huts

Many of the alpine huts have been established as refuges by one of the Alpine Clubs or Associations to make the Alps more accessible to mountaineers and hikers. Their huts range in ranging in size from bivouacs

to large lodges. The largest resemble hotels more than what we would call a hut.

Alpine Association huts are often managed by a host. Their accommodations are similar to what you’d expect from a youth hostel, but they also serve hot food and all sorts of hot and cold drinks (sometimes you can also get heated beer, should you care for it). Typically they also have common areas for socializing around tables. Many have terraces where you can sit outside in fine weather, eat, drink and enjoy the view.

Alm Huts and Cottages

There are even more huts associated with alpine farmsteads, called Alms. Originally, they provided shelter and work space for farm hands who tended their livestock on alpine pastures in the summer. Thousands still exist for that purpose alone. Many also offer food and drink to hikers and mountaineers.

Mahdegg Alm – Tennengebirge

A great number, also provide beds or mattresses for overnight stays. There may be some, still, that let you sleep in the hay shed, but for the most part, the days when you could walk up to an Alm and sleep in the hay are gone. (more on alms in another post).

The Alpine Hiking Experience

These are the kinds of huts and cottages you can use for overnight stays and meal breaks as you hike on one of the many trails through the Alps. And this is the kind of landscape you’ll pass through: alpine landscapes near or above tree line, dotted with mountain pastures and quaint cottages. When you venture into the higher country, where barren rock, glacier and mountain peaks dominate the landscape, you can often find huts managed by the Alpine Associations, sometimes even on mountain tops.

It’s one of the features that makes hiking in the Alps completely different from hiking in just about any other mountain range on the planet. Many of these huts have generous lodgings, good food, drink and company, and the views tend to be breath taking.

]]>http://www.hut-n-trek.com/alpine-huts-cottages/feed/2http://www.hut-n-trek.com/alpine-huts-cottages/Why (Travel) Art Journaling?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Hut-n-trek/~3/KKh17pKepeo/
http://www.hut-n-trek.com/art-journaling/#commentsThu, 08 May 2014 19:07:42 +0000http://www.hut-n-trek.com/?p=94“Every Child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Pablo Picasso— Art Journaling is the perfect way for anyone, from beginner to seasoned artist, to personalize and record a trip. Especially a trip where you want to travel light and, with the current luggage fees, isn’t that […]

]]>“Every Child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”Pablo Picasso—

The image above includes museum entrance ticket stubs, exhibit description brochure, a bookmark and some stickers from the gift shop. I tried a rendition of Van Gogh’s Starry Nights of my own with the water color crayons.

Art Journaling is the perfect way for anyone, from beginner to seasoned artist, to personalize and record a trip. Especially a trip where you want to travel light and, with the current luggage fees, isn’t that every trip? Whether you are running downtown to visit an art exhibit with only a purse, or you are trekking through the mountains with everything you need on your back; a journal, a few pens, and some basic art supplies are enough to get you started. Art Journaling is versatile. If you were on a trip that included city museums, beer gardens and a mountain trek, the same journal and art supplies will accommodate all aspects of your adventures in one small pouch.

In the picture above – if I were backpacking, the red pouch would be replaced with a ziplock baggie.

The rest you pick up on the way. Any item you find along the way is fair game for your art journal: postcards, brochures, material, mementos, pictures you take, anything that helps you create a visual representation of your experience.

Art Journaling is easy. The best thing about art journaling is that anyone who can hold a crayon and a glue stick can do it. Everyone, from the experienced artist to the absolute beginner (with a little guidance) can make a travel art journal that will last a lifetime. Of course you can also keep an art journal if you are an accomplished artist.

The teabag packet/pockets hold business cards, small tags or other cards you pick up along the way.

Art Journaling is fun and unique. Art journaling allows you to create a lighthearted visual travelogue of your trip that’s far more powerful than a string of photographs or written pages in a journal. It can be the experience of a moment, a day, an event, a person or place, anything you want to capture and express in a way that’s uniquely your own. Think how impressed your friends will be!

Pressed flowers take you back to a moment when the air was filled with their scent. (Click on images to see larger.) And doodling? Well, the College for Creative Studies warns: “Doodling is the gateway to illustration.” A secretly acquired recipe of a house specialty, journaled while you awaited the made-to-order soup, brings back the aroma of the delicious meal in the obscure, backstreet Gasthaus.

Okay – so the homemade soup took a while.

Two (or ten 0r twenty) years from now, when you hold your traveling art journal in your hands, turn the page and come across the receipt for the doll you brought home to your niece, you will remember the tiny shop and the tiny woman that ran it. When you look at the beer coaster from the mountain hut it will bring back the entire night’s experience of eating new foods and sampling a local vintage with new friends in amazing places. The business card from someone you met on the trail will remind you of the Italian photographer who sent you a picture of your back walking away down the trail. The same picture that now lives as the back cover of the very journal you hold in your hands. All this is to say how much more personal and immediate your own art journal is than any guidebook or even a written journal you take along. This is why we think Art Journaling is the perfect art to practice on hut-to-hut treks. Or for that matter, why we believe it is an ideal art form to accompany you on all of your travels.